“even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another,. . .” Jeremiah 23:26-27 Intend – The Hebrew verb hashav covers a lot more than intentions. It means “to devise, to invent, to consider and to reckon.” …
“Then if they will really learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ even as they taught My people to swear by Baal, they will be built up in the midst of My people.” Jeremiah 12:16 NASB As The LORD Lives – OK, you’ve read the verse in…
“Our Father in heaven” Matthew 6:9 Our Father – If you spend any time with Christian commentaries on the Lord’s Prayer, you will soon discover the common assertion that this prayer is unusual because Jews did not address God as “our Father.” This idea seems to come from the work of a Christian German theologian…
And it happened as the sun was setting and a deep sleep fell on Abram, and behold, a terror of great darkness falling on him Genesis 15:12 Deep Sleep – One of the principles of Hebraic interpretation is connecting thoughts based on similar words. When a word appears only a few times in Scripture, the…
Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, YHWH God of truth. Psalm 31:6 (Hebrew text) Redeemed – Jesus cries out from the cross, “Into Your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). There wasn’t a single Jew in the audience who didn’t recognize the words of David in that cry. But…
For You are my rock and my fortress, therefore for Your name’s sake lead me, guide me. Psalm 31:4 (Hebrew text) Lead me, Guide me – It is unfortunate that our efforts to produce a smooth-flowing English translation often result in hiding subtleties in the Hebrew. It’s unfortunate because those subtleties help us understand the…
Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” 1 Corinthians 15:33 Corrupts – I won’t deny it. Why would Paul even mention this? Isn’t it obvious? If I hang around with the wrong crowd, I am more than likely to start acting like them. Everyone knows this, right? Well, not exactly. You see, I…
“O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:55 from Hosea 13:14 Death – The Bible often seems to personify death. Perhaps that’s because the Bible doesn’t conceive of death as simply a biological phenomenon. Living things die. Their biological functions stop. But when it comes to human beings,…
“What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” Matthew 19:6 Joined Together – Every translation I checked has the same wording, “joined together.” But that doesn’t quite capture the overtones of this very unusual Greek verb (syzeugnymi). The verb literally means “yoked together.” It is found only twice in the LXX (Ezekiel 1:11 and…
“So also My heavenly Father will do to you unless each of you from your hearts forgive his brother their offenses.” Matthew 18:35 Forgive – Forgiveness is fundamental to faith. It is the action that separates human being from human biology. When I refuse to forgive, I move away from alignment with the Father. In…
